Sociology Colloquium, featuring Dr. Zai Liang: Small Restaurants and A Big World: How Chinese Immigrants Have Expanded the Restaurant Business in the United States
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H*ert Hall, Room 201
Sociology Colloquium, featuring Dr. Zai Liang: Small Restaurants and A Big World: How Chinese Immigrants Have Expanded the Restaurant Business in the United States illustration

Zai Liang is Distinguished Professor and Chair of Sociology at State University of New York at Albany. He currently serves as Chair of International Migration Section of the American Sociological Association and was a visiting scholar at the Russell Sage Foundation in New York City. He is elected member of Sociological Research Association and the recipient of the 2020 Louis Wirth Best Paper Award from the American Sociological Association. Dr. Liang’s research has been supported by many foundations including the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, the Ford Foundation, and Spencer Foundation among others. During 2004-2022, he was serving as Director and Co- Director of Urban China Research Network based in Albany. His main research interests are migration/immigration, urbanization, urban sociology, and China studies.

Based on his new book, this presentation explores the recent history of Chinese immigration within the United States and the fundamental changes in spatial settlement that have relocated many low-skilled Chinese immigrants from New York City's Chinatown to new immigrant destinations. Using a mixed-methods approach over a decade in Chinatown and six destination states, sociologist Zai Liang specifically examines how the expansion and growing popularity of Chinese restaurants has shifted settlement to more rural and faraway areas. Liang's study demonstrates that key players such as employment agencies, Chinatown buses, and restaurant supply shops facilitate the spatial dispersion of immigrants while simultaneously maintaining vital links between Chinatown in Manhattan and new immigrant destinations.
 
Reception to Follow!